Lawsuits

Artist rejects deal with Icelandic company implicated in Fishrot scandal

The artist Odee rejected a proposal by the fishing conglomerate Samherji that would have required him to pay £1 and hand over control of the website; now the company wants £206,000

Family of late Marlborough Gallery chairman Pierre Levai sue his lover, claiming she ‘kept him sick, starved’

Max and Rosemary Levai claim Pierre’s “long-time paramour” Marcia Levine is responsible for his death and should not receive any of his inheritance

Christie's is suing winning bidder of record-breaking Chardin for failure to pay

Italian investor Nanni Bassani Antivari secured the still-life Cut Melon with a €26.7m bid in June, but has yet to send the auction house any money

US judge allows artist Deborah Roberts's copyright infringement lawsuit against New York gallery to proceed

The lawsuit brought by Roberts in 2022 has received a mixed ruling from Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, but she denied dealer Richard Beavers's motion to dismiss it

Former museum curator accuses city in Arizona of censorship in lawsuit

The former chief curator of the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum is suing the municipality for allegedly ordering the removal of a print from a Shepard Fairey exhibition

Crime news

Co-creator of UndeadApes NFTs found guilty of fraud and money laundering in 'rug pull' scheme

Berman Jerry Nowlin Jr, known in the NFT community as "Repulse" and “Zayous”, faces up to five years in federal prison

Nudes by major Indian artists F. N. Souza and Akbar Padamsee embroiled in 'obscenity' dispute

The seven works were seized by Mumbai customs last year due to their sensitive content

Fate of Frank Lloyd Wright’s only skyscraper remains uncertain amid duelling lawsuits

Oklahoma’s Price Tower is caught in a tug-of-war between its current crypto-enthusiast owners, Wright’s conservancy and a company that restores historic buildings

Dealer Yves Bouvier owes more than $800m in back taxes, Swiss court rules

Meanwhile Dmitry Rybolovlev, with whom Bouvier settled a high-profile legal saga last year, has had charges against him dismissed

Kabir Jhala. With additional reporting by Vincent Noce

Artist sues US city that cancelled her residency over a pro-Palestine painting

Danielle SeeWalker and the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado are suing the town of Vail, alleging its decisions violated her free speech rights

Technologycomment

Can artists protect their work by suing AI companies?

When it comes to copyright infringement, establishing culpability and illegality in the age of artificial intelligence is murky

Curator Virginia Brilliant settles her lawsuit against Robilant + Voena gallery and its co-founders

Brilliant, who had sought at least $3m for claims related to her consulting work for the gallery, has withdrawn her complaint as part of the agreement

Three months after shutting down, Philadelphia’s University of the Arts files for bankruptcy

The university’s leaders still face a host of legal disputes, but the filing may allow them to liquidate real estate holdings that have been valued at $87m

Former university museum director drops lawsuit seeking to block sale of works to fund dormitory repairs

The deaccessioning dispute at Valparaiso University’s Brauer Museum of Art centres on works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Frederic Church and Childe Hassam collectively valued at up to $15m

Holocaust-restitution firm Mondex settles legal feud with heir over fees for $24m Chagall painting

"Over Vitebsk" by Marc Chagall hung at the Museum of Modern Art for decades until 2020, when it was restituted to the the heirs of a Jewish-owned art gallery in 1930s Berlin

US artists score victory in landmark AI copyright case

A federal judge in California has blocked an attempt by several AI companies to have portions of a copyright case dismissed

Man who claims he was injured in 'sprinkle pit' sues Museum of Ice Cream

A father who sustained a fracture during a visit to the immersive attraction in Manhattan in 2023 is suing the company for unspecified damages

Judge orders owner of mysterious African art collection in Houston to hand over works worth nearly $1m to settle legal dispute

The unusual move halted a court-ordered auction of around 1,400 objects for the second time in four months

Crime news

US authorities charge three UK nationals in Evolved Apes NFT fraud scheme

The charges, brought by the office of the Attorney for the Southern District of New York, signal a commitment to pursuing wide-ranging cryptocurrency cases

Artist who created Queen Elizabeth II portrait on Canadian coins sues dealer over stolen and damaged works

Susanna Blunt alleges the dealer Benjamin Lumb promised to compensate her for a stolen piece and knocked over several works in a “domino effect”

Feud between Frankenthaler Foundation’s current and former leaders drags on

A former board member wrote to the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James about the legal dispute, though no investigation is currently planned

Curator files explosive lawsuit against Robilant + Voena gallery alleging toxic workplace and other violations

Virginia Brilliant accuses the dealers of "repeatedly, regularly and constantly making misogynistic, antisemitic, racist and homophobic comments" and more

US judge rejects Nazi-loot claim to Van Gogh Sunflowers painting owned by Japanese company

After almost two years, the case has been dismissed due to a lack of jurisdiction, so the work will remain at the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo

Christie's hit with class action lawsuit over exposure of clients' personal data in cyberattack

The complaint, filed on 3 June by a Dallas-based customer, is the latest problem for the auction house following a major cyberattack

MFA Houston can keep Bernardo Bellotto painting sold to the Nazis, appeals court rules

The lawsuit stems from the accidental restitution of the wrong painting in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War

Collector Ron Perelman sold $963m worth of art to pay off debt

Recently unsealed court filings show 71 works by artists like Basquiat, Twombly and Giacometti were unloaded over a two-year period

Woman sues Walker Art Center after being told she could not breastfeed in a gallery

It appears the museum’s own employees were unaware of the policy that “parents are free to nurse children wherever”

Native American curator sues Chicago Blackhawks professional hockey team for fraud, sexual harassment

Nina Sanders claims she was hired as a consultant for the team to “pacify resistance” to the Chicago Blackhawks’ use of a Native American name and imagery

Vatican Museums staff bring legal action over ‘unfair and poor’ working conditions

Nearly 50 workers have signed a petition raising doubts over safety in what is the first ever class action against the Vatican

Dispute over a potentially Nazi-looted Egon Schiele goes to trial in New York

Heirs of multiple Holocaust victims have made claims to the drawing, which a member of the Lehman Brothers banking dynasty bought as a gift for his son